| Creator: | Jody Schaeffer George Krstic |
| Open Theme: | "Chicks Dig Giant Robots" |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Executive Producer: | Jody Schaeffer George Krstic Sander Schwartz For Cartoon Network: Linda Simensky Jay Bastian |
| Editor: | Roger Hinze |
| Company: | Cartoon Network Studios |
| Network: | Cartoon Network |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Runtime: | 26 minutes |
| Related: | What a Cartoon! |
Megas XLR is an American animated television series created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic for Cartoon Network.[1] The series revolves around two slackers: mechanic Coop and his best friend Jamie, who find a mecha robot from the future called MEGAS (Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System) in a New Jersey junkyard. Coop modifies Megas and replaces his head, the control center, with a classic muscle car, and names him XLR (eXtra Large Robot). Together with Megas's original pilot Kiva, they must defend Earth from the evil alien race called "the Glorft". The series is an homage and parody of mecha anime. Krstic was originally one of the co-creators of MTV's Downtown.
Schaeffer and Krstic conceived the idea of an animated series where the main character would pilot a giant robot utilizing his video gaming skills. The pilot episode, LowBrow, was shown in 2002 during Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon Weekend Summerfest, to determine which pilot would become a new Cartoon Cartoon; it was the most popular among viewers. It aired on the Toonami block from May 1, 2004, to January 15, 2005, for two seasons (totaling 26 episodes), before being cancelled due to low ratings.
Despite low ratings, the series was met with positive reception,[2] [3] and was ranked at No. 4 on ToonZone's "Toons of the 2000s: Top 5 Cartoon Network Originals".[4] There have been various fan efforts and petitions to revive the show since its cancellation.
Megas XLR was produced by Cartoon Network Studios; Titmouse, Inc. animated the main title and did animation work on Season 1.
In the year 3037, Earth is fighting a losing war against the Glorft, a hostile alien race led by Gorrath (Clancy Brown). In a last, desperate attempt to save the planet, the human resistance steals a prototype mecha robot from the Glorft and modifies it into a powerful war machine, renaming it Megas (Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System). Their plan is to use a time-traveling device called a time drive to send Megas and its assigned pilot, Kiva Andru (Wendee Lee), two years into the past to the Battle of the Last Stand, which was the last major offensive fought by humanity against the Glorft. Humanity lost that battle, but the members of the resistance, particularly Kiva, believe that Megas can tip the scales and hand the Glorft a decisive defeat.
Before the plan can be executed, however, an attack by the Glorft forces the human resistance to send Megas back in time before proper preparations are made. Megas' head is blown off in the attack and its time drive is damaged, and the crippled robot is inadvertently sent to a junkyard in 1930s New Jersey. It remains there until a slacker mechanic named "Coop" Cooplowski (David DeLuise) discovers it in approximately the year 2004. Coop turns Megas into a hot rod project by giving it a flaming paint job, replacing its head with a classic muscle car (resembling a car from the '70s MOPAR family; most likely a Plymouth Barracuda) and adding XLR (eXtra Large Robot) to its name.
While Coop is showing off the robot to his best friend Jamie (Steve Blum), Kiva travels to the 21st century to retrieve Megas and, upon discovering that only Coop can now pilot the robot due to his modifications to it, grudgingly agrees to train him in its use. However, Gorrath has followed her through time, forcing Kiva, Coop, and Jamie to team up and defend Earth against both Gorrath's forces and various other threats.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=20% | Season premiere | width=20% | Season finale | |||
| Pilot | width=10% | — | ||||
| 1 | width=10% | 13 | ||||
| 2 | width=10% | 13 | ||||
While playing video games, Schaeffer and Krstic came up with an idea of making an animated series in which the main character would use his video gaming skills to pilot a giant robot.[5] The pilot short (LowBrow) was shown in 2002 as part of Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoon Weekend Summerfest, a contest to determine which pilot would be selected as the next Cartoon Cartoon. It was the most popular among viewers, and was greenlit as a series.
Much of the series is inspired by Japanese mecha anime which the two grew up watching, with the animation being inspired by both anime and Western animation.[5] The humour often pays homage or mocks anime conventions.[5]
After being delayed from its original debut in December 2003, Megas XLR finally debuted on the Toonami block on May 1, 2004. However, due to low ratings, the series was cancelled after two seasons, with the final episode airing on January 15, 2005.
Reruns continued to air sporadically from January 16, 2005, to September 24, 2005. During this time, the series was later moved to the graveyard slot of 3:30am on Friday nights/Saturday mornings, before being removed from the network altogether.
The entire series is available at the iTunes Store,[6] Apple TV+https://tv.apple.com/us/show/megas-xlr/umc.cmc.4g6fgswh9x7kah0hi9ejupbe3 and on Xbox Video.[7]
In late 2012, fans of the show on Twitter started using the hashtag #BringBackMegasXLR. The co-creator George Krstic and director Chris Prynoski announced they would bring back the show; seeing as Megas XLR had been written off by Cartoon Network, the studio Titmouse, Inc. would have to get the rights to the show.[8] On April 29, 2013, George Krstic posted a tweet saying that he and Chris Prynoski were having a meeting at Titmouse to discuss bringing back the show along with Motorcity. However, in a 2014 interview George Krstic was quoted as saying: "Megas was written off as a tax loss and as such can not be exploited, at least domestically, in any way, or the network will get into some sort of tax/legal trouble." Because the show was used as a tax write-off the network would have to pay back the taxes they received from it and face large fines. It could also open the network up to tax fraud investigation.[9] As of 8 February 2019, Krstic has stated that the rights to the series had successfully transferred ownership to Warner Bros, though at this point it's too early and uncertain to tell what it could mean for the show's future.[10]
In December 2012, a series of messages were posted on Twitter by series director Chris Prynoski, hinting at production of a video game based on the series with Valve. No official comment on the project has yet been made by Valve or Cartoon Network.[11] However, in 2015 Chris Prynoski mentioned on Twitter that he had been unable to sort out the licensing needed.[12]
The series was well received. In a retrospective analysis of Dave Trumbore from Collider said: "It's actually a really funny and well-done series, but also because a listener (MrJake!) called in to recommend it; our cartoon lawyers say we're legally obligated to cover it. Just happy it's a good toon this time!".[13]
Roy from Cinemahub.com gave the show 3.5 rating out of 5 (Great) and wrote "While it’s still hilarious and fun to watch, its action scenes fall short in comparison to present-day animated series."[14]
Noah Dominguez from the Website CBR.com said "It's clear the creative team behind Megas XLR had a lot of fun making it. As such, the fans had a lot of fun watching it. Its over-the-top premise and delightfully self-aware humor were complemented nicely by the dynamic between Coop, Jamie and Kiva. Coop is the slacker who's actually fairly capable despite himself, Jamie offers comic relief and Kiva is the straight man who also has a nice fish-out-of-water angle to work with. Plus, let's not forget that the show had an absolute banger of a theme song in Ragtime Revolutionaries' "Chicks Dig Giant Robots."[15]